This volume explores the transformation of Iron Age communities in northeast Gaul, and in particular the Middle Rhine-Moselle region, giving special consideration to questions of social identity. Some of the main issues addressed are the multidimensional levels of sociopolitical organization, the cycles of centralization and decentralization, the origins of the La Tène culture, the emergence of the oppida, and the role of sanctuaries in the construction of collective identities. By combining an up-to-date summary of the different types of social identity with a considerable body of archaeological data, historical references and anthropological insights, this work represents a valuable contribution to our knowledge of Iron Age societies and, at a more general level, for all those interested in the study of past identities.

Manuel Fernández-Götz

Dr Manuel Fernández-Götz is Chancellor’s Fellow at the School of History, Classics and Archaeology of the University of Edinburgh. He has co-ordinated the Heuneburg-Project (2011-13) and authored some eighty publications on Iron Age societies and the archaeology of identities.

'The theory and arguments clearly set out in this important work deserve to be widely read.' - Andrew Fitzpatrick, University of Leicester, Antiquity, Vol 89 Issue 344

'Manuel Fernández-Götz's book unifies in an exemplary way written and archaeological sources, and adds new explanatory depth to the emergence of ethnicity and migration. The book shows the strength of a theoretically informed interdisciplinary approach in archaeology. As such it is an outstanding contribution to our understanding of the Hallstatt and La Tène periods in Europe.' -- Professor Kristian Kristiansen, University of Gothenburg.

'Manuel Fernández-Götz's detailed study offers a wide-ranging, markedly new overview of the development of later Iron Age societies of northeastern Gaul, more particularly the Moselle-Middle Rhine sector; this is focused on the key themes of power and identity. His anthropologically-informed approach sets the developments of the period into wider perspectives, extending back to the late Hallstatt world and on to the transformations accompanying 'Romanisation'. This overview is destined to become both a key source for the comprehension of the regional record and, perhaps more importantly, a vade mecum for further consideration, both theoretical and practical, of his central topics within temperate European Iron Age studies.' -- Ian Ralston, Abercromby Professor of Prehistoric Archaeology, University of Edinburgh.

'This is an excellent addition to the long fine scholastic tradition of the area, with many new insights into Iron Age society.' -- Susan Lupack, European Journal of Archaeology